Table 2 Critical issues, guidelines for sustainable use of wood as energy source, and stakeholders to be involved

Forestry operations

Amount of withdrawable woody biomass

Define the amount of available biomass according to the carrying capacity of the forest ecosystem

Forest managers and wood cutters

Forestry consortium (including forest planners, foresters, and forestry firms)

Fossil fuel consumption (chainsaws and other machinery)

Choose the most efficient harvesting system (e.g., debranching before cable logging helps to reduce fuel consumption)

Impacts on the forest ecosystems (e.g., oil emission, clearance, soil erosion)

Follow sustainable forestry criteria (e.g., selective cutting instead of clear-cutting)

Choice of wood-burning appliances

Inefficient combustion leads to higher emission

Develop new and more efficient technologies

Boilers' producers

Producers' association

PM air emissions

Install appropriate emission control devices

Oversizing can lead to a request for more biomass than what is needed and what is available in the area

Prefer distributed generation instead of big plants

Wood burning

Inefficient combustion leads to higher emission

Prefer chip boilers, pellet, and wood modern stoves instead of open fireplaces.

Users

Citizens'/consumers' association

Pollutant air emissions

Substitute old appliances with new ones (safer and more efficient)

Carelessness of the log wood-burning appliance causes high emission pollutants

Frequent ash removal

Routine maintenance of the flue

Correct use of stoves leads to a reduction in emissions

Proper firing modes

Pollutant emission also depends on the fuel type

Use forest wood instead of wood waste

Burn only dried wood (R.H. < 50)

Prefer hardwood and low-resin wood instead of softwood

Wood log/chip/pellet transport implies fossil fuel consumption

Buy wood from a short supply chain